1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods used in processing telephone calls, and more particularly, to systems and methods for allowing telephone carriers to offer enhanced products and services to their subscribers.
2. Related Art
Deregulation of the long-distance telephone industry spawned the growth of numerous long-distance service providers, each vying for a share of the United States' long-distance market. Thus far, the U.S. industry is dominated by three large companies: AT&T, MCI and Sprint. These large carriers have the resources and capital at their disposal to enable them to develop and provide a wide range of telephone-related services to their customers.
Perhaps less known, but still extremely important in the more than $50 billion interexchange U.S. long-distance market, are the smaller companies. In 1991, AT&T, MCI and Sprint controlled approximately 85 percent of the U.S. market. At this time, 12 medium-sized companies shared eight percent of the U.S. market. The remaining seven percent of the U.S. market was divided among nearly 320 small carriers.
The larger carriers are able to attract customers by offering a full range of services in addition to direct dial calling. These services include, but are not limited to: operator-assisted calling, full-feature calling cards, and specialized 800 number routing.
The strategy followed by the smaller carriers in attracting customers has been to offer excellent service and low-cost, direct-dial long-distance calling (e.g. 1+calling). Many smaller carriers, for example, focus on a particular geographic market. By understanding the market's calling patterns, the smaller carrier can maximize crucial economies and can attract subscribers by offering long-distance calling at rates lower than those offered by larger carriers.
Additionally, many smaller carriers use the fact that they are a small, local business in order to attract other local businesses as their clients. These carriers stress the ability to offer more personalized, responsive attention than some larger carriers may provide.
However, many of the smaller carriers are finding it increasingly difficult to compete with the larger carriers by offering direct-dial calling alone. For these carriers to attract and retain customers, they need the ability to offer the same range of features and services provided by some of the larger carriers. For example, a small carrier may have a small travel agency as a long-distance subscriber. As the travel agency grows, develops more business, and hires additional salespersons, the travel agency's telephone services requirements also grow. The travel agency may want to offer calling cards to its salespersons who travel frequently. The travel agency may also want the ability to re-route an incoming call that was made to their 800 number. Such re-routing allows the travel agency to re-route incoming 800-number calls to any telephone number, a voice mailbox, or a pager. Additionally, the travel agency may want the ability for its office workers, clients and vendors to make operator-assisted calls.
Unfortunately, most smaller carriers can only provide direct-dial long distance service to its customers. If a smaller carrier wants to offer enhanced products to its customers, the smaller carrier has two choices. First, the smaller carrier may purchase its own telephone switching system and operator consoles. Second, the smaller carrier may purchase and resell the products of one of its larger competitors.
However, reliable, affordable, and scalable switching equipment is not commercially available. If a long-distance carrier wants to purchase its own equipment, the selection is limited to the large-scale complex switching systems that are currently available. Because these systems are costly, in most instances, the smaller carrier is forced to go through a larger carrier to obtain enhanced products.
Several problems arise out of the inability of smaller carriers to provide enhanced calling services. Four of these problems are now described.
First, the flexibility and customization options available to the smaller carriers in providing services are limited when they resell the products of their larger competitors. One reason for this is that those products were not designed with the smaller carriers' needs in mind. For example, consider a smaller carrier that wants to offer a product like 800 number forwarding to its customers. The smaller carrier will want its customers to hear customized user prompts, including the identification of the carrier. The smaller carrier will also want to establish its own prices for the service. To further customize its systems, the carrier may want to change the way the call processes, or to add additional features such as the ability to route an 800 number to a voice mailbox.
In another example, the smaller carrier is unable to provide carrier-unique operator services. The cost of providing operator services prohibits most smaller carriers from hiring their own operators and purchasing the required equipment. Instead, smaller carriers typically purchase operator services from a competitor carrier or from operator service providers.
One drawback of having to use a competitor's operators is the inability to custom brand the call. For example, when a customer of the smaller carrier places an operator-assisted call using a competitor carrier's operators, she hears the operator of the competitor carrier thank her for using the competitor carrier's services.
Another drawback of having to use another's operators is the inability to custom-tailor call processing because the operator services provided and the operator responses cannot be customized. The smaller carrier has no control over the operators used by the competitor carrier or the operator service provider.
Relying on larger carriers for providing these enhanced products does not give smaller carriers the flexibility they desire. This is because smaller carriers cannot customize the products they obtain from the larger carriers to provide unique services to their subscribers.
A second problem is the range of services that can be provided by a smaller carrier is limited to the services that carrier can purchase from its competitors. As a result, the smaller carrier often cannot create innovative new products and services to offer its customers.
An additional problem is that the amount of fraudulent calling considered acceptable, and therefore not monitored or halted by a larger carrier, may be well above a level that is economically tolerable for the smaller carrier.
Another problem is the smaller carrier's inability to get customized fulfillment material through a competitor carrier. For example, calling cards provided by a larger competitor carrier, in turn to be provided to the smaller carrier's customers, often bear the name of the competitor carrier.
In summary, because the small carriers must rely on the larger competitor carriers for advanced products and services such as calling cards, operator assistance, 800 service, audiotext, voice mail, and the like, the smaller carriers cannot offer a full range of carrier-unique and customer-unique products. As a result, the smaller carriers lose part of their ability to compete in the U.S. long-distance market.
The problems of flexible control of a telephone network are not limited to the smaller carriers or the long-distance industry. All telephone carriers would benefit from the ability to offer popular, customized, value-added services. Commercially available hardware and conventional solutions to date, however, do not offer this ability.